This painting narrates the personal story of Brittney. During the time when I was working with her, she was going through a period of detachment. She had been in a very unhealthy relationship that had destructive influences on her life and was crippling her ability to grow and be healthy. Though still very much in love with her partner, she was aware that she had to break away for self-preservation and growth. Though extremely challenging, she succeeded by putting great distance between her and her partner, traveling to a place that could restore her peace of mind. In the painting she is moving forward towards the light and leaving behind the darkness that kept her stagnant (her relationship), while taking one last look at her past with confidence in her eyes before she approaches her new path, hence the title, “Before I Go”. The colorful design elements on her arm are a combination of both right side up and up side down triangle outlines to symbolize the relationship of the male and female. Because they are not fully integrated into the body suggests that we are all connected beyond the corporal body. The variety in colors illustrates her disposition about change, that change creates diversity and joy.

I use the technique of chiaroscuro (high contrast from light to dark) to reference how a woman’s depth can only be rendered with her darkest of shadows present as well as her light. I want to step away from the assumption that the female nude has to be reduced to dehumanized sex symbol or an allegorical figure of purity to be well received. The personal stories of female subjects are scarcely told and often censored. I intend to show that beauty is incomplete without the humanizing experiences that a woman obtains throughout her life. I utilize wood as the foreground to illustrate the raw nature of the content